Apparatus for drying veneers



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APPARATUS' FOR DRYING VENBE'RS.

No. 457,281.;B Patented Aug. 4,189@

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APPARATUS FOB. DRYING VBNBERS. A No. 457,281. Patented Aug. 4,1891.

02, a1 o2- o'b of 0L UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

FREDERICK KUKKUOK, OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI.

APPARATUS FOR DRYING VENEERS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 457,281Ldated August 4,1891. Application led December 29, 1890. Serial No. 376.119. (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FREDERICK KUKKUOK, of St. Louis, Missouri, have madea new and useful Improvement in Methods and Appliances for DryingVeneers and other Material, of which the following is a full, clear, andeX- act description.

The present improvement is carried out substantially as follows: Twosystems of endless traveling' laterally-separated bands are employed-alower and an upper system. The two systems are spaced far enough apartvertically that is, the lower port-ions of the bands of the upper systemare far enough above the upper portions of the bands of the lowersystem-to admit the veneers or other material to be dried between them.The bands bind the veneers sufficiently to carry them along with thebands in their movement and to discharge the veneers at the farther endof the machine. A chamber incloses the bands, which support and carrythe veneers, and a current of hot air is caused to fiow through thechamber. As the veneers are borne along they are exposed to the hot air,and are thereby dried. The bands constitute an open-work clamp, whichprovides for the t access of the heated air to the veneers and alsoholds them flat While beingsubjected to the heat. The machine may be ofany Width and of any length suitable for the purpose in question. rlheair-current is introduced at or toward the delivery end of the machine,and preferably at the side thereof, and to enable the heat to be applieduniformly throughoutthe Width of the machine it is caused to traversethe chamber in a divided form, all substantially as is hereinafterdescribed and claimed, aided by the annexed drawings, making part ofthis specilication, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation oftheimproved machine, partly broken away; Fig. 2, a plan thereof, aportion of theroof of the hot-air chamber being removed; and Figs. 3,4., 5, and 6, details upon an enlarged scale, Fig. 3 being a verticallongitudinal section showing the rollers at the receiving-end of themachine and the adjacent end of the hot-air chamber; Fig. 4:, a verticalcross-section on the line 4 4 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5, a section on the line 55 of Fig. 3, and Fig. 6 a section on the line 6 6 of Fig. 3.

The same letters of reference denote the same parts.

4A A A representthe bands constituting the lower system, and B B Brepresent the bands of the upper system.

The bands A A A are carried around the rollers C and D and the vbauds BB B are carried around the rollers E and F. The roller E at. thereceiving end (the left-hand end, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2) of themachine is not directly over the roller O, but is set back therefromtoward the discharging end of the machine, substantially as shown, toprovide for readily placing the veneers G upon the lower system of bandspreparatory to entering them between the lower and upper bands. Anadditional roller II is preferably used to support the lower bandsdirectly beneath the position of the roller E.

The bands A B are preferably wire ropes. To provide for keeping themtaut, the bearings c and e of the rollers C E, respectively, are adaptedto slide in their respective bearings c e', and are connected withWeighted cords I and J, respectively, which serve to produce the propertensions upon the bands, substantially as shown. The bearings Z f arefixed in their supports K K. The drivingshaft L is provided with thefast and loose pulleys Z Z, and also with a pinion Z2, Which engageswith the gear M, attached to the shaft f of the roller F. 'lhislast-named shaft is also provided with a gear N, which in practiceengages with a gear (not shown) upon the shaft OZ of the roller D. Bythis means motion is imparted to the system of Wire-rope bands, causingthem to move in the direction indicated by the arrows in Fig. l.

In practice the machine is, say, seventy-five feet long, partly toobtain sufficient capacity and partly to prolong the time during whichthe veneers are subjected to the drying-current.

O represents the hot-air chamber. While it might be variouslyconstructed to effect the purpose in question, it is better to adapt itto inclose the space which is more immediately in the vicinity of theveneers. To this end the chamber extends between the rollers E vH I atone end of the machine, and the rollers F D at the other end of themachine, and in a vertical direction to include the lower por- ICO' thereceiving end of the machine.

tion of the upper bands and the upper portion of the lower bands, andalso a space, substantially as shown above and beneath said bandportions.

The inlet to the chamber O is at o toward the delivery end of themachine at the side thereof, and the outlet therefrom is toward Theaircurrent in traversing the chamber O inclines to follow the shortestcourse therein, and hence if allowed to Iiow in one body through thechamber, the heat given out by the current would not be uniformlydistributed in the chamber; and to obviate this dfculty, and to providea desirable means for directing the air-current the chamber is by meansof longitudinally-extended partitions o 0 divided into aseries ofcompartments o2 o2, substantially as shown. These partitions extendsubstantially throughout the length of the chamber to obtain the bestresults, and owing to the inlet 0 being at the side of the machine thepartitions lead from said side first inward laterally into the box andth en longitudinally therein, and the partitions in thus leading intothe box may be curved, as shownin Fig. 2 or may be otherwise suitablyextended to join with that portion of the partitions which extendlongitudinally through the chamber.

Some details of the construction are as follows: The chamber O, throughthe instrumentality of its partitions, may serve as a guide for thebands in supporting the veneers. For this purpose the partitions in thatpart of the chamber which is above the upper bands may bear, andpreferably through the instrumentality of the friction-rollers P, uponthe upper bands, and the partitions in the lower part of the chamber,and preferably through the friction-rollers P ,may press upward againstthe lower bands. The sides 03 of the chamber serve to connect the roofov with the bottom 05 of the chamber. vThe chamber may be, by anysuitable means, (not shown), supported in position for the purposedescribed. The partitions so far as their connection with the roof andbottom of the chamber is concerned are conveniently held in place bymeans of the clips o6, which are attached to the roof and bottom of thechamu ber and hold the partitions edgewise, as shown. The veneers arefedfrom the left-hand end of the machine, as represented in thedrawings, between and by means of the wre-rope bands through the machineand exposed While thus being fed or passed to the drying action ofhot-air currents introduced into the series of compartments o2 o2 at theside off lthe machine in any suitable manner.

I claim- The above-described machine for drying veneers and othermaterials, havingits dryng-

